From the vaults, here is a cover of George Harrison’s wonderful song Something that I performed on ukulele. What can I say, Pattie Boyd Boyd must have been quite the muse. Something is arguably George’s greatest song with the Beatles or even his entire career, which is saying something. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded with a Koaloha concert ukulele and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/5/08.
All rights reserved to this arrangement.
You may also like:
Here is a rendition of Pua Lililehua from the vaults. I always enjoyed this song because it is mostly sweet and mellow, but still has a bit of tension that creates a sense of yearning in it. I recorded this while living in an ohana unit with a large, tiled room that I kept mostly empty because I enjoyed the acoustics. (Plus, I don’t own a lot of furniture.) Hope you enjoy.
Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 2/27/08.
All rights reserved to this arrangement.
Iris has a lot of harmonics, which creates a light, chimey atmosphere. A thunderstorm rolled in while I was recording and gave some interesting punctuation to the take. I’ll probably try to record another version of this song, but thought the lightness of the song coupled with the thunderstorm left an interesting contrast. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, Gotoh 510 tuners, strings are Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.
All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.
You may also like:
Not long ago I picked up the Polytune Clip from TC Electronic and have since been very pleased with the way it works on acoustic guitar in particular. (Of course it also works on electric guitar and other instruments as well.) I do a lot of open and altered tunings and this tuner handles them like a champ. In addition to latching on to notes quickly and accurately in chromatic mode, the Polytune picks up the low 6th string bass notes well (I tune down as low as Bb). Tracking is great and you can see the note steadily move into tune as you turn the tuning pegs. Of course the polytune mode doesn’t really work with open / altered tunings, but the Polytune Clip works so well as a chromatic tuner that it’s worthwhile for that alone. Highly recommended.
TC Electronic: http://www.tcelectronic.com/polytune-clip/
You may also like:
Video on the Gotoh 510 tuners I have on my guitar here
Morning and Night started out as a fingerpicking study I wrote for one of my students way back when. I added a little to the study to perform it as a slow, relaxing solo piece and it has stayed in my repertoire ever since.
A few years back I decided to write a harmony part for the song, which I almost forgot about until I found a demo take while combing through some old files. I think it’s interesting to hear the song both with and without the harmony. Hope you enjoy both versions.
All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.
You may also like:
Here is a comparison between two popular analog delay pedals, the MXR Carbon Copy and the Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail. Both pedals provide excellent analog delay sounds. The Carbon Copy has slightly darker repeats that ‘blend in’ a bit more; the Vapor Trail repeats are still warm but also have some nice shimmer. Both give you nice vintage delay sounds. The Vapor Trail has some additional features like delay modulation knobs on the front of the pedal (as opposed to the Carbon Copy’s internal trim pots) and a delay time knob that flashes in sync with the delay length, however I don’t really miss these things on the Carbon Copy. Overall, either would make a great “go-to” analog delay pedal.
This demo was recorded with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera, with Eminence Ragin’ Cajun speaker) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.
You may also like: Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Demo
After demoing the Soul Food against other pedals and hitting some of the (relatively) higher gain sounds, I thought it would be good to do a video focusing on the Soul Food’s clean – or cleanish – side. It’s a transparent overdrive to begin with, and thus a great option for those looking to add just a small amount of fine grit.
This demo was recorded with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera, with Eminence Ragin’ Cajun speaker) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.
You may also like:
J. Rockett Archer vs Electro-Harmonix Soul Food – Klone Comparison
While a lot of people use more common open tunings like Open D and Open G, this C6 tuning (C-A-C-G-C-E) is most often associated with Jimmy Page. Page used the tuning on the Led Zeppelin songs “Friends” (Led Zeppelin III), “Bron-Yr-Aur” (Physical Graffiti), and “Poor Tom” (Coda). It sounds great on acoustic guitar, providing you with lots of drones in the key of C. (The tuning may not easily work on electric, depending on your set-up.) I find the tuning tends to work well where you’re mostly on the I chord and vi chord, with a little IV and V chords thrown in. While I’m sure someone somewhere will figure out Giant Steps in the tuning, I try to play to the tuning’s natural strengths and focus on chords that are easy to play and make use of the open strings. I hope you enjoy using this tuning. You may also want to check out my covers of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” and Page / Zeppelin’s “Bron-Yr-Aur,” links below.
You may also like:
This is a fun and melodic fingerpicking exercise that would work to develop coordination for those new to fingerpicking, or serve as a warm-up for more experienced pickers. While there are a lot of possible variations to this exercise, I recommend you stick to the diatonic shapes and four note / four string patterns introduced in the video. Hope you enjoy this melodic exercise.
Here is my song, Fronds in the Wind. I recorded several slightly different versions, but liked this one best. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.
All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.